<< back to archive index Date: 26th August Comment on the Redfern Inquiry ACE was largely responsible for the current terms of reference of the Redfern Inquiry and played a very active part in it, as a member of the Social Issues Committee. He put in a dissenting report which advocated that: 1. There be a Medically Supervised Injecting room in Redfern; 2. Small quantities of Hard drugs for personal use be decriminalised and that; 3. The Committee not advise where to put the needle van, but leave this to the public health experts in the area. The Origins of the Redfern Inquiry The Aboriginal people are severely disadvantaged in Australia. The most basic indices of health such as infant mortality and life expectancy are hugely below the Australian average, and at about the level of India. It is national scandal and an international disgrace. TJ Hickey was an Aboriginal youth from country NSW. He was apparently wanted by Police for minor misdemeanours, and believing he was being pursued by Police, he raced his bicycle, fell, was impaled in a steel picket fence on 14 February 2004 and died soon after. On the following night, 15th February there was a riot in Redfern. The Opposition wanted to hold an inquiry. Their terms of reference were largely drafted to inquire into why the Police did not have enough resources to control the riot . The government did not want an inquiry at all - and said that they had a long-term strategy in place that would work if given enough time. They said that the Coburn Inquiry into policing on the night was already set up. ACE spoke to Senator Aden Ridgeway, and we worked out some amendments which would broaden the terms of reference of the Opposition inquiry to look at the social problems of Redfern and Waterloo with special reference to the problems that the Aboriginal people had. Also we needed to know what the government's initiatives were and how successful they have been. ACE does not know if the Opposition expected their motion to get up. It was almost anti-Aboriginal in that it looked at why police could not 'control' them. Perhaps they thought they could persuade the cross-bench, who have the balance of power to support them, though they did not try to get that support. Perhaps they assumed that it would be voted down, then they could claim that only they cared about the Police. This would get the Police vote, which may be going to the Government because Labor are so keen on 'law and order'. It is hard to know. At any rate, the Opposition accepted the amendments. There would be an inquiry on reasonable terms, as ACE had got the numbers for the cross bench. This put him in a difficult position. It would be the Opposition's inquiry. It was going to be hard to ask the Aboriginal people to come to an Opposition Inquiry when the ambit position of the Opposition had been so harsh on them. If the government-controlled Social Issues Committee conducted the Inquiry, the government would at least be acknowledging that there was something wrong, and would have to make some sort of effort to implement any conclusion that the Committee came to. ACE suggested that the government amend the motion to put it under their committee, and offered to support their own terms of reference as long as they were similar to the ones resulting from his amendments. He felt sure that enough of the cross bench would support this position so that the numbers would be there in any vote. After some hesitation the government agreed. (The Hansard cited in reference 1 above only records the Opposition motion and the government's amendments, not the negotiations that produced that outcome). The Report The Committee report is now out and has 5 chapters : 1. An Introduction 2. The Redfern Waterloo Partnership Project. This is the group that the government set up, largely under the close scrutiny of Premier's Dept to coordinate activity in Redfern and Waterloo. It also has to deal with the issue of redevelopment of the area. The stated aim was that it would deal with the social issues and not just the building and land development. The conclusion of the chapter is that it has done some good, but not consulted as widely as possible, with less powerful groups getting less input, and there being a general lack of transparency. 3. The Redevelopment of the Block is under control of the Aboriginal Housing Company. The Block is the central part of Redfern, which was given to the Aboriginal people by Gough Whitlam, when it was about to be developed by a private developer. The area had housing stock falling down, with drug dealers using derelict houses. The houses were being progressively demolished- about half the area has been demolished so far. The Aboriginal Housing Company had tried to be a good landlord and get rid of drug dealers. It has properties all over the State and had a plan worked out with the Architecture faculty at the University of Sydney to rebuild the Block. The plan will cost $27 million but the Aboriginal Housing Company has only $2 million. The Inquiry found that the AHC has had some problems in the past, and has been accused of nepotism, but is much improved in recent years and should be given money and help to do the redevelopment. It was suggested that the State and Federal governments should give half each. It might be noted that no Federal government department deigned to put in any submission to this inquiry, though the Federal government theoretically has responsibility for Aboriginal Affairs. Realising this, ACE moved a motion to condemn their lack of action- a motion which was passed with the (Liberal) Opposition opposing it. 4. The Problems of the Police and their relationships with the Aboriginal Community were discussed in detail, though the actual riot was not dealt with by the Committee on the basis that the Police analysis of the riot is being done by the Coburn Report, which was not made available to this Committee, on the basis that parts of it that are currently sub-judice. Other aspects not covered were evidence as to whether the Police were pursing TJ Hickey, as this is being examined by the Coroner's report into this death. Evidence was given that Police were relatively inexperienced, and that more cultural sensitivity training was need by Police, but also that they do have to put up with a lot of abuse and assaults as relationships with aboriginal community are not good. There were some recommendations to increase their numbers and experience, and also to target drug dealers who are not Aboriginals but merely preying on a disadvantaged community and using the fact that Police are unpopular to work in an easier environment for their crimes. 5. The drug and alcohol problems at the Block are serious and the van that hands out needles and syringes is very controversial, its location in particular. Aboriginal leaders are understandably concerned that they will be seen as 'having a drug culture', when in fact the opposite is the case. The drug culture is very much an affliction brought to them by white society as part of the disadvantage they suffer. ACE's view, which led to the dissenting report (attached below) was that the Committee should not make recommendations as to where the Van should be, but should support a Medically Supervised Injecting room in the Redfern area, but not in the Block, to take the issue away from the Aboriginal Community and make the needle van less critical for drug users. The prevalence of Hepatitis C and HIV is higher than the national average for I-V drug users, so ACE also recommended the decriminalisation of hard drugs for addicts. This is a sensitive area, but the Prohibition policies did not work for alcohol and are not working for hard drugs, and it is time a new strategy was tried. A number of witnesses agreed with this, in particular Clover Moore and Linda Burney, but most of the government witness and MPs could not say so. What is clear is that righteous indignation leading to prohibitive policies does not work.

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updated: October 9, 2004